Business Directories

Dubai likely to cancel 27 real estate projects

Dubai, May 11, 2009

Dubai is considering cancelling 27 projects, the head of its real estate regulator said on Monday, as the emirate's once-booming property market slumps in the global downturn.

A decision whether to cancel or not would be made by the end of the month, said Marwan bin Ghalita, the head of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (Rera).

"The decision has not been done. They are projects all over Dubai - third party projects (sub developers)," he said.

Earlier this year, Ghalita said he believed 25 per cent of projects will be cancelled in Dubai as a result of the global economic slowdown. "It's almost the same," he said when asked if that figure had changed.

The Dubai Land Department and Rera set up a committee last week to cancel projects in the emirate that are not feasible. Real estate prices tumbled 41 per cent in the first three months of the year, property consultants Colliers said in a recent report.

A collapse in property prices has already led to project cancellations in the region worth billions of dollars. More than half of the construction projects in the UAE, worth $582 billion, have been put on hold, Dubai-based market research firm Proleads said in February.

Ghalita said on Monday the committee would cancel projects based on Rera's decision whether or not they should continue, a request from developers to cancel, or through complaints to the watchdog from project investors.

In February Rera said Dubai developers are likely to delay the delivery of about 20 per cent of residential units in 2009 and 40 per cent in 2010.-Reuters